If you’d like to see more, give us a call.

Free Spirit Yacht Cruises
This family-owned private yacht charter company is our social media success story. Despite the challenging economy, they are sailing through boating season booked with parties and events.

What are they doing that other companies are missing? Staying visible. Writing a blog – regularly. Sending out e-newsletters – regularly. Networking. Tweeting. Uploading photos. Using FaceBook. Giving great customer service. Soliciting, and using, testimonials from happy clients.

We’ve been working with Angela and Joe since May, 2008, helping with everything from web copy and SEO to public relations. Read about them in the Chicago Tribune, Business Section, April 27, 2009.

Aside from being really nice, fun people to work with, they challenge the status quo by showing you can succeed in a recession.

Mid-North Association
Mid-North Association is a non-profit organization made up of residents of this architecturally-rich, Lincoln Park Chicago Landmark neighborhood.

The original website was a template. No photos. No charm. No visibility.
We created a website site that reflects the neighborhood’s distinctive charm and highlights area attractions.

On the Photo Archive page, visitors can view some of the stunning historical buildings in the neighborhood. Scroll down and you’ll find photos from Summerfests past, their big summer weekend event held every June. The Links page is filled with area attractions – a super resource for tourists or for locals looking for good theater, galleries, restaurants and more. And an online sign-up form makes it easy for newcomers to join MNA or volunteer for events.

We also designed a template for their e-newsletter. And off course, it looks very much like the web site.

urban source
The owners of this inviting walk-in design studio called us looking for help with their marketing. Their concept was clever: give consumers access to a wide range of fabrics and wallcoverings normally available only to the trade.

Their main problem: a website that took forever to download and was a well-kept secret from search engines. You couldn’t find them!

The fix: start with a revamp of the website. Get rid of the splash page. Write new keyword-rich copy…the kind that Google would find. Add more testimonials since this type of business is very referral-driven. And build clean pages that load fast and are easy to navigate.

Matt Mayes of Stop Time Studio, an expert in designing sites that work, made that happen. The new site works like a charm. It’s fast and easy to navigate. He also designed a coordinating email template for new product announcements and special events (we write the copy).

We’ve also done some PR and a viral marketing campaign to get the urban source name out on the top design blogs..

They’re no longer a well-kept secret.

Nettelhorst School
http://www.nettelhorst.org

This is truly a community labor of love and was my pet pro bono project for five years.

Nettelhorst is the local Chicago Public School in my East Lakeview neighborhood. As their PR "department" when there was no budget for PR, I was privileged to work with an incredible group of parent and neighbors, who donated hundreds hours of time and labor to revitalize this 115-year-old school and bring it back to the community.

Today, this formerly under-utilized school is a Chicago Success Story. Not only do neighborhood children once again walk to school, but children from outside the area are transferring in. And families are moving into the area so their children will be within Nettelhorst boundaries. Sometimes we can make a difference. And boy does it ever feel good.

The Law Office of Mitchell Ex
www.mcexlaw.com

My brother is an attorney who focuses on two very different areas of the law: ARDC defense and real estate closings. We came up with an effective way for his site to highlight both areas. The result is a clean, easy-to-navigate, professional site. Irena Svidowsky of neko designs designed and developed this website.